THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT
DIRECTORS' NOTE
Welcome to our theatre!
The year 2025 marks the 90th anniversary of the creation of the Federal Theatre Project, a program within the Works Progress Administration, established to actively respond to the economic challenges of the Great Depression. This project is the culmination of months of hard work by students from Radford University and Virginia Tech who have explored the Federal Theatre Project through both primary and secondary source material. Students studied the socio-political context of the period as they explored the politics of performance. News articles, speeches, letters, plays, and other historical artifacts provided a documentary foundation for discussion and experimentation. While historically based in the time of the Great Depression, the project connects issues of the past to today.
The stories shared here are each student’s own imagining of one specific moment in the life of a historical figure connected to the Federal Theatre Project. Students have researched, written, performed, and recorded their own dramatic works.
As theatre makers, storytelling is central to what we do. We hope that the stories showcased here encourage community conversation. Click on the telephone on the back wall of our theatre to share your thoughts. We now invite you to tour our theatre to experience the stories. Simply click on a blue-highlighted object to open a door into another time and place.
Thank you for visiting,
Amanda and Molly
Virginia, May 2025
Perry Bruskin • Martin Dies • Hallie Flanagan (1935) • Hallie Flanagan (1939) • Rosamond Gilder • Susan Glaspell • Hazel Huffman • Frida Kahlo • Mary Merrill • Virginia Nicholson • Elmer Rice • Eleanor Roosevelt (1935) • Eleanor Roosevelt (1939) • Franklin Delano Roosevelt • Olive Stanton • Helen Tamiris • Orson Welles • Artwork • Collaborators • Directors’ Note • Front Page Tableau • Music • Pen Pals • Research/Source Material • Share Your Thoughts • Special Thanks